A two-day regional conference of Jewish communities, devoted to discussions on “Jewish community planning for the aging in the next decade, ” was opened here today under the chairmanship of LeRoy E. Hoffberger, Baltimore Jewish leader.
The conference, which was arranged by the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, opened with addresses by Wilbur J. Cohen, Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and by Philip Bernstein, executive director of the CJFWF. Louis J. Fox, president of Associated Jewish Charities of Baltimore, greeted the delegates, who represented the communities of Boston, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Miami, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington.
Views on the role of Jewish agencies and of the Government in the next 10 years, in providing services for aged Jews, were exchanged by lay and professional leaders at the session today. Representatives of Jewish federations, hospitals, homes for the aged, family services, vocational services and community centers reported on current services for the aged now offered by each agency. Reports were also presented on special projects involving the Jewish aging under Jewish or community-wide auspices.
Under Secretary Cohen spoke on the philosophy behind Government involvement in planning for services to older persons, which include social security, old age assistance, medicare; anti-poverty projects, construction for housing including loans and rent subsidies. He outlined the expanding role of the Government in aid for the aged and its implications for planning by voluntary agencies.
Mr. Bernstein dealt with the role of the Jewish federations in services to Jewish aged. He analyzed the range of services provided by Jewish communal agencies and the relationship among these agencies with federations in planning, coordination and financing the services to older persons. He also analyzed the relationship of the Jewish agencies to other general community voluntary agencies in the same field.
BERNSTEIN OUTLINES COMMUNITY GOAL FOR SERVICES FOR AGED
Pointing out that “perhaps no services in the Jewish community are so old, nor any concepts of service so new, as our service to the aged, ” Mr. Bernstein stressed that the concepts have been changing “more drastically and dramatically” in the past two decades. He urged examination of the changes and the common planning for the future.
“We must start with the aged themselves,” he said. “Who are they? What do they need? It has been said that we really have three generations of the aged: those from 65 to 75, another group from 75 to 85, and still others from 85 and over. That may not be a fully accurate definition, but there is much truth in recognizing that we are not dealing with one group.
“Except for the legal retirement age of 65, or for some at 62 or 63, are those people really ‘aged’? Not as we know many of them. There are almost no people in our homes for the aged under 70, and very few under 75, People at 65 are not ready to change their lives drastically. They are not ready to accept radical changes imposed by society. They want the same freedoms they had had until 65–the freedom to work and the freedom to live as they would like to live.
“We must recognize that what was the boon of retirement of the 1930’s, is for many the bane of the 1960’s. Many people are not ready to retire at 65, when they are in good health and vigor, and when they have the most to give.
“Thus, the prime goal now of many people at 65, and our prime goal with them, is to help assure that they can continue to be useful and creative. Our goal is to enable them to look ahead, and not only back, to continue their own fulfillment. Our goal is to help them maintain what is most precious to them and to our society — their independence, their dignity, their self – support and their self-respect.
“What I am trying to say, in short, is that, for many people, there is no more radical change in our lives at 62 or 65, than there was at 52 or 55; that society owes them an opportunity to go on living as they want to do; that it is the essence of democracy and of our religious faith and purpose to treat them as individuals, and not as categories.
“Most of these people will remain in the community, as part of the community. A prime responsibility of the community is to help assure decent and dignified housing. For those who can maintain their own homes, and for those who can live with their adult children, that opportunity surely must be afforded. And if it is of interest that 22 percent of the aged are in fact still living with their adult children.
“And for those who need foster homes or boarding homes, or who need home-maker services to enable them to live alone, that too must be assured.”
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